System and method for Mandarin Chinese speech recogniton using an optimized phone set

ABSTRACT

The present invention comprises a system and method for implementing a Mandarin Chinese speech recognizer with an optimized phone set, and may include a recognizer configured to compare input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set. The optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may be implemented with a phonetic technique to separately include consonantal phones and vocalic phones. For reasons of system efficiency, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may preferably be implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of consonantal phones and vocalic phones to accurately represent Mandarin Chinese speech during the speech recognition procedure.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application relates to, and claims priority in, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/395,113, entitled “Efficient Phone-Based Recognition Engines For Chinese And English Isolated Command Applications,” filed on Jul. 11, 2002. The foregoing related application is commonly assigned, and is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND SECTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] This invention relates generally to electronic speech recognition systems, and relates more particularly to a system and method for Mandarin Chinese speech recognition using an optimized phone set.

[0004] 2. Description of the Background Art

[0005] Implementing a robust and efficient method for system users to interface with electronic devices is a significant consideration of system designers and manufacturers. Voice-controlled operation of electronic devices is a desirable interface for many system users. For example, voice-controlled operation allows a user to perform other tasks simultaneously. For instance, a person may operate a vehicle and operate an electronic organizer by voice control at the same time. Hands-free operation of electronic systems may also be desirable for users who have physical limitations or other special requirements.

[0006] Hands-free operation of electronic devices may be implemented by various speech-activated electronic systems. Speech-activated electronic systems thus advantageously allow users to interface with electronic devices in situations where it would be inconvenient or potentially hazardous to utilize a traditional input device. Electronic entertainment systems may also utilize speech recognition techniques to allow users to interact with a system by speaking to it.

[0007] However, effectively implementing such systems may create substantial challenges for system designers. For example, enhanced demands for increased system functionality and performance may require more system processing power and require additional hardware resources. An increase in processing or hardware requirements may also result in a corresponding detrimental economic impact due to increased production costs and operational inefficiencies.

[0008] Furthermore, enhanced system capability to perform various advanced operations may provide additional benefits to a system user, but may also place increased demands on the control and management of various system components. For example, an enhanced electronic system that effectively recognizes words and phrases in the Mandarin Chinese language may benefit from an efficient implementation because of the large amount and complexity of the digital data involved. Therefore, for all the foregoing reasons, implementing a robust and efficient method for a system user to interface with electronic devices remains a significant consideration of system designers and manufacturers.

SUMMARY

[0009] In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are disclosed for implementing a Mandarin Chinese speech recognizer with an optimized phone set. In one embodiment, a recognizer may be configured to compare input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set.

[0010] The optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may be implemented with a phonetic technique to separately include consonantal phones and vocalic phones. For reasons of system efficiency, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may preferably be implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of consonantal phones and vocalic phones to accurately represent Mandarin Chinese speech during the speech recognition procedure.

[0011] In certain embodiments, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may include the following consonantal phones: b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c, zh, ch, j, q, f, s, sh, x, h, m, n, ng, l, r, y, and w. In addition, the optimized Cantonese phone set may also include the following vocalic phones: a, e, o, i, u, yu, ai, ei, ao, and ou. In many embodiments, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may also include a closure phone “cl”. Because of the relatively small number of phones used, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set therefore provides an efficient and compact representation of phones for accurately recognizing Mandarin Chinese speech.

[0012] In certain embodiments, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may advantageously represent diphthongs by utilizing a single unified diphthong phone. For example, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may include the following unified diphthong phones: ai, ei, ao, and ou. In addition, no tonal information is incorporated in the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set. The present invention thus provides an effective system and method for implementing a Mandarin Chinese speech recognizer with an optimized phone set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013]FIG. 1 is a block diagram for one embodiment of a computer system, in accordance with the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 2 is a block diagram for one embodiment of the memory of FIG. 1, in accordance with the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 3 is a block diagram for one embodiment of the speech recognition engine of FIG. 2, in accordance with the present invention;

[0016]FIG. 4 is a diagram for one embodiment of the Hidden Markov Models of FIG. 2, in accordance with the present invention;

[0017]FIG. 5 is a diagram of one embodiment of the dictionary of FIG. 2, in accordance with the present invention;

[0018]FIG. 6 is a diagram of an optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and

[0019]FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a technique for handling diphthongs, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The present invention relates to an improvement in speech recognition systems. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles herein may be applied to other embodiments. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.

[0021] The present invention comprises a system and method for implementing a Mandarin Chinese speech recognizer with an optimized phone set, and may include a recognizer configured to compare input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set. The optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may be implemented with a phonetic technique to separately include consonantal phones and vocalic phones. For reasons of system efficiency, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set may preferably be implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of consonantal phones and vocalic phones needed to accurately represent Mandarin Chinese speech during the speech recognition procedure.

[0022] Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram for one embodiment of a computer system 110 is shown, according to the present invention. The FIG. 1 embodiment includes a sound sensor 112, an amplifier 116, an analog-to-digital converter 120, a central processing unit (CPU) 128, a memory 130, and an input/output interface 132. In alternate embodiments, computer system 110 may readily include various other elements or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those elements or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 1 embodiment.

[0023] Sound sensor 112 detects sound energy and converts the detected sound energy into an analog speech signal that is provided via line 114 to amplifier 116. Amplifier 116 amplifies the received analog speech signal and provides the amplified analog speech signal to analog-to-digital converter 120 via line 118. Analog-to-digital converter 120 then converts the amplified analog speech signal into corresponding digital speech data. Analog-to-digital converter 120 then provides the digital speech data via line 122 to system bus 124.

[0024] CPU 128 may then access the digital speech data on system bus 124 and responsively analyze and process the digital speech data to perform speech detection according to software instructions contained in memory 130. The operation of CPU 128 and the software instructions in memory 130 are further discussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 2-7. After the speech data is processed, CPU 128 may then provide the results of the speech detection analysis to other devices (not shown) via input/output interface 132. In alternate embodiments, the present invention may readily be embodied in various devices other than the computer system 110 shown in FIG. 1.

[0025] Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram for one embodiment of the memory 130 of FIG. 1 is shown, according to the present invention. Memory 130 may alternately comprise various storage-device configurations, including random access memory (RAM) and storage devices such as floppy discs or hard disc drives. In the FIG. 2 embodiment, memory 130 includes, but is not limited to, a speech recognition engine 210, Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) 212, a vocabulary dictionary 214, and a language model 216. In alternate embodiments, memory 130 may readily include various other elements or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those elements or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 2 embodiment.

[0026] In the FIG. 2 embodiment, speech recognition engine 210 includes a series of software modules that are executed by CPU 128 to analyze and recognize speech data, and which are further described below in conjunction with FIG. 3. In alternate embodiments, speech recognition engine 210 may readily be implemented using various other software and/or hardware configurations. HMMs 212 and dictionary 214 may be utilized by speech recognition engine 210 to implement the speech recognition functions of the present invention. One embodiment for HMMs 212 is further discussed below in conjunction with FIG. 4, and one embodiment for dictionary 214 is further discussed below in conjunction with FIG. 5. Language model 216 may include a word sequence or “syntax” model that predicts a next word light of previous words.

[0027] Referring now to FIG. 3, a block diagram for one embodiment of the speech recognition engine 210 of FIG. 2 is shown, according to the present invention. Speech recognition engine 210 includes, but is not limited to, a feature extractor 310, an endpoint detector 312, and a recognizer 314. In alternate embodiments, speech recognition engine 210 may readily include various other elements or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those elements or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 3 embodiment.

[0028] In the FIG. 3 embodiment, an analog-to-digital converter 120 (FIG. 1) provides digital speech data to feature extractor 310 via system bus 124. Feature extractor 310 responsively generates feature vectors, which are provided to recognizer 314 via path 320. Feature extractor 310 further responsively generates speech energy to endpoint detector 312 via path 322. Endpoint detector 312 analyzes the speech energy and responsively determines endpoints of an utterance represented by the speech energy. The endpoints indicate the beginning and end of the utterance in time. Endpoint detector 312 then provides the endpoints to recognizer 314 via path 324.

[0029] Recognizer 314 is preferably configured to recognize words in a predetermined vocabulary which is represented in dictionary 214 (FIG. 2). The foregoing vocabulary words in dictionary 214 may correspond to any desired commands, instructions, or other communications for computer system 110. Recognized vocabulary words or commands may then be output to system 110 via path 332.

[0030] In practice, each word from dictionary 214 may be associated with a corresponding phone string (string of individual phones) which represents that word. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) 212 (FIG. 2) may include trained stochastic representations for each of the phones from a pre-determined phone set that may effectively be utilized to represent the words in dictionary 214. Recognizer 314 may then compare input feature vectors from line 320 with appropriate HMMs 212 for each of the phone strings from dictionary 214 to determine which word produces the highest recognition score. The word corresponding to the highest recognition score may thus be identified as the recognized word.

[0031] Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram for one embodiment of the HMMs 212 of FIG. 2 is shown, according to the present invention. In the FIG. 4 embodiment, HMMs 212 may preferably include a model 1 (412(a)) through a model N (412(c)). In alternate embodiments, HMMs 212 may readily include various other elements or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those elements or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 4 embodiment.

[0032] In the FIG. 4 embodiment, HMMs 212 may readily be implemented to include any desired number of models 412 that may include any required type of information. In the FIG. 5 embodiment, each model 412 from HMMs 212 may correspond to a different particular phone from a pre-determined phone set for use with recognizer 314 (FIG. 3). One embodiment of an optimized Mandarin chinese phone set is further discussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 6-7.

[0033] Referring now to FIG. 5, a block diagram of the dictionary 214 of FIG. 2 is shown, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In the FIG. 5 embodiment, dictionary 214 may preferably include a word 1 (512(a)) through a word N (512(c)). In alternate embodiments, dictionary 214 may readily include various other elements or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those elements or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 5 embodiment.

[0034] In the FIG. 5 embodiment, dictionary 214 may readily be implemented to include any desired number of entries 512 that may include any required type of information. In the FIG. 5 embodiment, as discussed above in conjunction with FIG. 3, each entry 512 from dictionary 214 may also include a corresponding phone string of individual phones from a pre-determined phone) set. The individual phones of the foregoing phone string preferably form a sequential representation of the pronunciation of a corresponding entry 512 from dictionary 214. One embodiment of an optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set is further discussed below in conjunction with FIGS. 6-7.

[0035] Referring now to FIG. 6, a diagram of an optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set 610 is shown, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In alternate embodiments, the present invention may readily perform speech recognition using various other elements or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those elements or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 6 embodiment.

[0036] In the FIG. 6 embodiment, phone set 610 includes thirty-six separate phones that are implemented to represent phonetic sounds from the Mandarin Chinese language. Since Mandarin Chinese is typically written using Chinese characters instead of the Roman alphabet, the FIG. 6 phone set 610 (with the exception of an added closure phone “cl”) is presented by utilizing a standard Mandarin Chinese romanization scheme known as “pinyin”. It should also be noted that the pinyin “ü” is represented as “yu” in the FIG. 6 phoneset 610 in order to facilitate computer keyboard usage. In alternate embodiments, the present invention may utilize optimized Mandarin Chinese phone sets that are represented in various other types of romanization schemes.

[0037] Because of the relatively small number of phones used, phone set 610 therefore provides an efficient and compact representation of phones for accurately recognizing Mandarin Chinese speech. The reduced number of separate phones in phone set 610 provides significant conservation of processing resources and memory in electronic system 110. In addition, the reduced number of total phones substantially decreases the burden associated with training Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) 212. However, in various alternate embodiments, the present invention may be implemented to include various additional or different phones than those shown in the FIG. 6 embodiment.

[0038] Conventional Chinese speech recognition systems typically utilize a phone set which is implemented with a sub-syllabic approach in which each syllables are represented as rimes or half-syllables. In contrast, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set 610 of the present invention advantageously utilizes a phonetic technique in which syllables are further divided into phonetic units that may be represented by combinations of appropriate consonantal phones and vocalic phones to provide greater granularity to the speech representation process. Furthermore, phone set 610 represents the various sounds of the Mandarin Chinese language without utilizing corresponding tonal information as part of the different phones. In addition to providing greater flexibility, the foregoing phonetic technique also has the additional benefit of requiring fewer total phones in phone set 610.

[0039] The phone set 610 of FIG. 6 may be organized into various linguistic categories depending upon characteristics of the corresponding phones. For purposes of illustration, one such organization is presented below as Table I which includes categories on the left with corresponding phones from phone set 610 on the right. In addition, Table I also includes a second equivalent representation for phone set 610 in accordance with a system developed by the International Phonetic Association (IPA). Further information regarding the International Phonetic Association may be found on the World Wide Web at www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/fullchart.html. In alternate embodiments, phone set 610 may also be organized in various ways that are different than that shown in the following Table I. TABLE I Sony (Pinyin-based) IPA stops: b p p ph d t t th g k k kh affricates: z t{circumflex over ( )} c t{circumflex over ( )}h zh s{circumflex over ( )}' ch s{circumflex over ( )}h j C{circumflex over ( )} q C{circumflex over ( )}'h fricatives f f s s sh s{circumflex over ( )} x C h x nasals: m m n n ng N approximants: l l r r{circumflex over ( )}' y j w w yu H vowels: a a e e o o i i u u yu y diphthongs: ai aj (optional) ei ci ao aw ou ow closure: ci (optional)

[0040] Referring now to FIG. 7, a diagram 710 illustrating a technique for handling diphthongs is shown, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In alternate embodiments, the present invention may readily handle diphthongs using various other techniques or functionalities in addition to, or instead of, those techniques or functionalities discussed in conjunction with the FIG. 7 embodiment.

[0041] In the FIG. 7 embodiment, the optimized Mandarin Chinese phone set 610 (FIG. 6) may advantageously represent diphthongs (two or more concurrent vowel sounds) by utilizing a single unified phone. For example, in the FIG. 7 embodiment, phone set 610 may include the following unified diphthong phones: ai, ei, ao, ou. The present invention may effectively utilize the unified diphthong phones to conserve processing and memory resources. In addition, because the vowel sounds within diphthongs in Mandarin Chinese speech occur relatively quickly, representing the diphthongs as unified phones may prevent various problems during the speech recognition process.

[0042] For purposes of illustration, in the FIG. 7 example, block 714 includes an exemplary Mandarin Chinese word “hei”. In block 716, the word “hei” is represented in a conventional linguistic manner that has three separate units, ah”, “e”, and “y”. In accordance with the present invention, in block 718, the word “hei” is efficiently represented with only two phones from phone set 610, namely “h” and “ei”. In accordance with the present invention, any type of Mandarin Chinese diphthong (or other diphthongs) may be represented by utilizing unified phones, as shown in the FIG. 7 example.

[0043] The invention has been explained above with reference to preferred embodiments. Other embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure. For example, the present invention may readily be implemented using configurations and techniques other than those described in the preferred embodiments above. Additionally, the present invention may effectively be used in conjunction with systems other than those described above as the preferred embodiments. Therefore, these and other variations upon the preferred embodiments are intended to be covered by the present invention, which is limited only by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for performing a speech recognition procedure, comprising: a recognizer configured to compare input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized phone set, said optimized phone set being implemented with a phonetic technique to separately provide consonantal phones and vocalic phones, said optimized phone set being implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of said consonantal phones and said vocalic phones; and a processor configured to control said recognizer to thereby perform said speech recognition procedure.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein said input speech data includes Mandarin Chinese language data, said optimized phone set being compactly configured to accurately represent said Mandarin Chinese language data.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein said recognizer and said processor are implemented as part of a consumer electronics device.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set conserves processing resources and memory resources while performing said speech recognition procedure.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set reduces training requirements for performing a recognizer training procedure to initially implement said recognizer.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein said phone strings each include a different series of phones from said optimized phone set, each of said phone strings corresponding to a different word from said vocabulary dictionary.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein said recognizer compares said input speech data to Hidden Markov Models for said phone strings from said vocabulary dictionary to thereby select a recognized word during said speech recognition procedure.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes phones b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c, zh, ch, j, q, f, s, sh, x, h, m, n, ng, l, r, y, w, a, e, o, i, u, yu, ai, ei, ao, and ou.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes consonantal phones b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c, zh, ch, j, q, f, s, sh, x, h, m, n, ng, l, r, y, and w.
 10. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes a closure phone “cl”.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes vocalic phones a, e, o, i, u, yu, ai, ei, ao, and ou.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set represents certain diphthongs by utilizing unified diphthong phones to thereby conserve processing resources and memory resources while providing greater accuracy characteristics for said speech recognition procedure.
 13. The system of claim 12 wherein said optimized phone set includes unified diphthong phones ai, ei, ao, and ou.
 14. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes a stops category that includes separate phones for b, p, d, t, g, and k.
 15. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes a affricates category that includes separate phones for z, c, zh, ch, j, and q.
 16. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes a fricatives category that includes separate phones for f, s, sh, x, and h.
 17. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes an approximants category that includes separate phones for l, r, y, w, and yu.
 18. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set includes a nasals category that includes separate phones for m, n, and ng.
 19. The system of claim 1 wherein said optimized phone set represents various sounds of a Mandarin Chinese language without utilizing corresponding tonal information as part of different phones in said optimized phone set.
 20. The system of claim 1 wherein said consonantal phones and said vocalic phones from said optimized phone set are combined to represent syllables from a Mandarin Chinese language system.
 21. A method for performing a speech recognition procedure, comprising the steps of: configuring a recognizer to compare input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized phone set, said optimized phone set being implemented with a phonetic technique to separately provide consonantal phones and vocalic phones, said optimized phone set being implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of said consonantal phones and said vocalic phones; and controlling said recognizer with a processor to thereby perform said speech recognition procedure.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein said input speech data includes Mandarin Chinese language data, said optimized phone set being compactly configured to accurately represent said Mandarin Chinese language data.
 23. The method of claim 21 wherein said recognizer and said processor are implemented as part of a consumer electronics device.
 24. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set conserves processing resources and memory resources while performing said speech recognition procedure.
 25. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set reduces training requirements for performing a recognizer training procedure to initially implement said recognizer.
 26. The method of claim 21 wherein said phone strings each include a different series of phones from said optimized phone set, each of said phone strings corresponding to a different word from said vocabulary dictionary.
 27. The method of claim 26 wherein said recognizer compares said input speech data to Hidden Markov Models for said phone strings from said vocabulary dictionary to thereby select a recognized word during said speech recognition procedure.
 28. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes phones b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c, zh, ch, j, q, f, s, sh, x, h, m, n, ng, l, r, y, w, a, e, o, i, u, yu, ai, ei, ao, and ou.
 29. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes consonantal phones b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c, zh, ch, j, q, f, s, sh, x, h, m, n, ng, l, r, y, and w.
 30. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes a closure phone “cl”.
 31. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes vocalic phones a, e, o, i, u, yu, ai, ei, ao, and ou.
 32. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set represents certain diphthongs by utilizing unified diphthong phones to thereby conserve processing resources and memory resources while providing greater accuracy characteristics for said speech recognition procedure.
 33. The method of claim 32 wherein said optimized phone set includes unified diphthong phones ai, ei, ao, and ou.
 34. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes a stops category that includes separate phones for b, p, d, t, g, and k.
 35. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes a affricates category that includes separate phones for z, c, zh, ch, j, and q.
 36. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes a fricatives category that includes separate phones for f, s, sh, x, and h.
 37. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes an approximants category that includes separate phones for l, r, y, w, and yu.
 38. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set includes a nasals category that includes separate phones for m, n, and ng.
 39. The method of claim 21 wherein said optimized phone set represents various sounds of a Mandarin Chinese language without utilizing corresponding tonal information as part of different phones in said optimized phone set.
 40. The method of claim 21 wherein said consonantal phones and said vocalic phones from said optimized phone set are combined to represent syllables from a Mandarin Chinese language system.
 41. A computer-readable medium comprising program instructions for performing a speech recognition, by performing the steps of: configuring a recognizer to compare input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized phone set, said optimized phone set being implemented with a phonetic technique to separately provide consonantal phones and vocalic phones, said optimized phone set being implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of said consonantal phones and said vocalic phones; and controlling said recognizer with a processor to thereby perform said speech recognition procedure.
 42. A system for performing a speech recognition procedure, comprising: means for comparing input speech data to phone strings from a vocabulary dictionary that is implemented according to an optimized phone set, said optimized phone set being implemented with a phonetic technique to separately provide consonantal phones and vocalic phones, said optimized phone set being implemented in a compact manner to include only a minimum required number of said consonantal phones and said vocalic phones; and means for controlling said means for comparing to thereby perform said speech recognition procedure. 